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Progressive Christian

Myth of Redemptive Suffering

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November 2025

November 20, 2025

Resurrection and Justice Work Today

Death, even just one more death, doesn't overcome death. Only life nonviolently triumphs over violence...

November 19, 2025

Crucifixion: A Historical Alternative to Substitution

Crucifixion was reserved enemies of the state or those who threatened imperial order, not ordinary...

April 2025

April 17, 2025

Resurrection Is Resistance, Not Redemption by Suffering

The earliest form of the good news, that we still need today, is not that...

April 16, 2025

Life and Living Not Death and Dying

Marginalized communities have spent years critiquing theologies that center on death rather than how life...

April 16, 2025

Original Good News Was About a Resurrection Not a Cross

The cross has been the symbol of salvation in Christianity for two millennia. The original...

September 2024

September 12, 2024

Refusing to Passively Endure Injustice, Part 3

Don’t passively endure suffering. Don’t give in when others try to persuade us to patiently...

September 11, 2024

Refusing to Passively Endure Injustice, Part 2

Passively enduring suffering doesn’t give life. Life is found in our active resistance and struggle...

September 10, 2024

Refusing to Passively Endure Injustice, Part 1

Whatever we make of the claim of messiah today, we must be intentional about holding...

April 2024

April 11, 2024

Resurrection as Injustice Undone, Part 3

Whatever we make of the resurrection stories today, resurrection speaks of stories not over yet. ...

April 10, 2024

Resurrection as Injustice Undone, Part 2

Resurrection speaks that hate, injustice, bigotry, power and privilege don’t have to have the last...

April 09, 2024

Resurrection as Injustice Undone, Part 1

They did not see their salvation as accomplished through the cross. They saw the resurrection...

March 2024

March 28, 2024

Good News Is About Life and Love, Not Death and Dying, Pt. 3

The good news is that hate doesn’t have the last word. We can choose love...

March 27, 2024

Good News Is About Life and Love, Not Death and Dying, Pt. 2

Whatever we make of these reports today, the lessons in these stories’ emphasis are not...

March 27, 2024

Good News Is About Life and Love, Not Death and Dying, Pt. 1

The original good news of the gospel was not that someone had died. It was...

March 14, 2024

The Harmful Myth of Redemptive Death, Part 3

Love can conquer hate, and, in the end, justice, love and life will have the...

March 13, 2024

The Harmful Myth of Redemptive Death, Part 2

This prioritizes the oppressor’s or abuser’s need for redemption over and above the rights of...

March 12, 2024

The Harmful Myth of Redemptive Death, Part 1

Our reading has a history of justifying death or abuse for those in marginalized social...

February 2024

February 22, 2024

Bearing Crosses and the Myth of Redemptive Suffering, Part 3

This may seem to be a subtle interpretive difference, but it makes all the difference...

February 21, 2024

Bearing Crosses and the Myth of Redemptive Suffering, Part 2

Too often, the cross we are to counseled to “bear” is defined as an injustice...

February 20, 2024

Bearing Crosses and the Myth of Redemptive Suffering, Part 1

This is the myth of redemptive suffering: that our suffering can redeem our abusers and...

August 2023

August 31, 2023

What Taking Up a Cross Doesn’t Mean, Part 3

How we define bearing a cross makes a difference in how we respond to injustice...

April 2023

April 20, 2023

Good News, Part 3 of Resurrection as the Good News

They may interrupt our work of shaping our world into a safe home for all,...

April 19, 2023

Undoing, Part 2 of Resurrection as the Good News

Many who live in or stand in solidarity with oppressed communities have seen how destructive...

April 06, 2023

Mary at the Tomb, Part 3 of Resurrection and Listening to Those on the Margins

This Easter story of Mary is about prioritizing all the voices that our practices push...

April 05, 2023

Resurrection, Part 2 of Resurrection and Listening to Those on the Margins

The resurrection is the good news in the book of Acts, not that someone had...

March 2023

March 30, 2023

Palm Sunday and a Contrast of Values, Part 3 of On the Foal of a Donkey

This Palm Sunday, we are reminded that life still triumphs over death, love triumphs over...

March 02, 2023

A Spiritual Awakening that Establishes Justice (Part 3 of 3)

This binary contrast quickly becomes an opiate for our world’s injustice and does not inspire...

February 2023

February 23, 2023

Sacrificing our Humanity to Change the World (Part 3 of 3)

Regarding sacrificing out humanity, we’ll need to interpret these stories differently than the original audience...

February 22, 2023

Sacrificing our Humanity to Change the World (Part 2 of 3)

"This concept often then turns into unhealthy passive acceptance and unhealthy forms of self-sacrifice having...

February 21, 2023

Sacrificing our Humanity to Change the World (Part 1 of 3)

Sacrificing our humanity for bread, contrasted with those things that are life-giving in the long...